Cheek Aflame
by Jack of the North
Summary: Charlie sees the advantages in coming home after a Christmas with his family. And Hermione.


**A/N**: Entry for the TE Secret Santa Gift Exchange

**Pairing:** Hermione/Charlie

**Written For**: Amy, Grande Vanilla Skim Latte

**Rating**: T

**Summary:** It's the week leading up to Christmas and Charlie's realising that moving back home won't be so bad after all.

**Title:** Cheeks Aflame

* * *

_Christmas Countdown: 6 days to go_

Charlie shivered slightly and pulled on his heavy boots. Christmas was just under a week away and he was heading home. Not just for the holidays, though, for good. His large boots clumped on the wooden floorboards as he toured his empty house one last time. He had lived a Spartan existence, with only the bare essentials and one or two indulgences; a bed, a dresser, bathroom, table, no kitchen, one worn armchair and a small bookcase filled with books on dragons and the care of magical creatures with a few Quidditch magazines scattered throughout.

The walls were unadorned except for one old faded dragon poster he had had since he was twelve. A single photo frame holding a family photo sat on his dresser. He took his bland meals in the mess hall and he would Apparate to the closest village with the other trainers every now and then for the odd drink.  
He stood in the door and looked out on the fantastic view the location of his house afforded him. He'd been at the reserve for ten years and he would miss it; the cool crisp winter mornings and the sweltering summer days; the thrill of entering a nesting mother's habitat and the calm that seeped into him watching a slumbering dragon's massive chest rising and falling in deep sleepy breaths. But he knew it was time to move on, he loved working with the dragons but serious changes needed to be made in England and more than one person had nominated him to head a new committee to do just that. The Ministry was even going to make it official and give him a job.  
Charlie picked up his bag and made his way down to the small building used for Apparation, portkeys and floo. Few people were up this early on a chilly winter morning, the dragons were sluggish and a lot calmer during the winter and as a result the reservation required less staff. He waved a final farewell to the people he saw and paused a moment to quickly look in at the hatching centre and the half a dozen eggs scatter about the room on various heating chambers. He would miss the hatchings and at the thought he nearly returned to his little house to unpack his bags. But he didn't and without a backward glance, set his shoulders and entered the transport building to meet his portkey home.

* * *

_Christmas Countdown: 5 days to go_

Hermione bounded down the stairs, the spirit of Christmas infused in her soul.

"Good morning!" she called to the kitchen and its few occupants. Only Mrs Weasley, Charlie and Bill were up. Mrs Weasley and Charlie smiled back and returned her greeting, while Bill merely nodded. Mrs Weasley had asked that as a present this year, everyone spend the week before Christmas at the Burrow and Bill was none too happy at having to be squished in with brothers when he had his own spacious apartment in London. That Fleur had decided to spend Christmas with her parents instead of crammed in with him wasn't helping his mood, either.

Hermione took a seat beside Bill after dishing out a plate of bacon and eggs. She listened as the other continued their discussion from before her arrival.

Tonight would officially kick off the week of Christmas festivities. Well, just under a week. They would decorate the house and tree and, unlike at Hermione's house, that meant every room in the house, the outside of the house and the yard. They would start in the yard in the afternoon. Hermione's job today was to go to a Muggle store and get some decorations, enough to keep Mr Weasley occupied. Over the years he had often shown his ability to completely miss whatever he was aiming for while magically decorating. When Hermione had suggested some Muggle ornaments for him, Mrs Weasley had jumped on the idea.

"Charlie, Bill, I want you two to go with Hermione and help her carry things."

"Yes, Mum," they both agreed and retired upstairs to change into Muggle attire. Mrs Weasley watched them go, a fond smile on her face.

"It's so good to have them home," Mrs Weasley sighed. She lowered her voice and leaned into Hermione furtively. "I think Charlie's having a hard time accepting that he's not going back to Romania. He seems a bit down; can you help keep an eye on him for me?"

"Oh, sure, Mrs Weasley." Hermione nodded. "I'm sure he'll be fine once he settles into his new job. The Ministry is excited to have someone with so much field experience heading the new division. It will be nice to see a friendly face around the office, too."

Hermione frowned slightly and Mrs Weasley reached out and patted her hand. The younger woman was very good at her job but her strong work ethic and her constant push for reform was winning her, not so much enemies but certainly no friends. Mr Weasley had told his wife some so of the nastier things Hermione's colleagues called her behind her back. Having Charlie, likable popular Charlie, around could only help Hermione.

The men reappeared, dressed in jeans, boots and large winter coats. They looked very attractive with their close fitting jeans and rugged good looks and Hermione lamented over the fact that not enough wizards dressed in Muggle fashion. With that thought, Hermione donned her own coat and they were off.

* * *

_Christmas Countdown: 4 days_

Charlie laughed and lobbed another snowball across the yard towards Harry, Ron and Hermione. Next to him, Ginny squealed and ducked as a snowball came flying at them from where Percy and the twins were stationed. Lying in the snow between Ginny and Charlie, Bill grumbled about, 'Getting too old for this kind of this,' before jumping up and launching a vicious kamikaze assault on both opposing teams. With a flick of his wand, a pile of snowballs followed him as he ran out into the open, throwing snow left and right.

Ginny and Charlie hesitated only a moment.

"Charge!" Charlie cried and they too hurled themselves out into the yard. Charlie tripped over a stray plastic reindeer before righting himself and continuing his charge. Bill covered them as Ginny headed towards her brothers while Charlie took on the 'Golden Trio.'

Charlie's mouth lifted into a smile as Hermione's squeals and giggles floated to him. It was a sound he was quickly coming to appreciate.

When he bounded over the hedge he found the boys, Harry and Ron, kneeling over her in a protective position as he hurriedly formed snowballs the Muggle way.

Each team had been given a flag – a scrap of one of Charlie's old shirts – and he could see theirs sticking out of the back pocket of Hermione's pants. Bill had his teams. Charlie swished his wand and a mountain of snow landed on Ron.

"Cheater!" he cried just before he was buried. Laughing, Harry and Hermione began squishing and dumping their snowballs on Charlie; he was too close to actually throw them.

Charlie waved his wand furiously and, trying to duck and spin away from the pair of honorary Weasleys, sent small loads of snow at the two of the.

He spun around when he felt a solid hit to the back of his head. Percy had broken away from the skirmish between the other teams and was charging at Charlie, Harry and Hermione. Harry changed his target and sent his snowballs at Percy instead. Charlie, seeing his opportunity, snatched up Hermione and swung her over his broad shoulders.

She shrieked and pounded on his back but she couldn't have been very angry because the shriek was immediately followed by a giggle. It was too easy for Charlie to reach up and pull the flag from Hermione's pants. Simultaneously a cry came up from the other side of the yard and Bill appeared, waving the flag from the twins and Percy. "We win! We win!" Ginny cried as she danced into sight. After a moment of grumbling the losing teams followed and everyone converge in the middle of the yard. They were all wet and dishevelled, breathing heavily but happy, grinning like idiots.

They laughed, talking over each other, as they analysed the game, deciding it was Bill's fearless advance that won them the game. The twins jokingly blamed Percy for their loss while Ron grumbled about Charlie's cheating.

"I think you can put the girl down now," Ginny joked as they made their way inside to shower or change.

Charlie blushed bright red, earning him a snigger from Bill, the only one who noticed, and slowly lowered Hermione to the ground.

"Thanks Charlie." Hermione grinned at him, her eyes dancing, her cheeks flushed, and skipped inside, gratefully accepting a towel Harry was holding out to her.

"Play it cool," Bill warned as he passed.

"Am I that transparent?" Charlie asked, grabbing a towel from the pile his mother had left on the kitchen table.

"No yet, I only noticed because of the way you followed her around like a puppy yesterday," Bill said quietly. They could hear the others making their way upstairs but with a large family, you could never be too sure. "But watch yourself. And don't start anything you don't intend to finish. You're back in England for good now; you can't leg off to Romania to get away from your one night stands."

Charlie perched on the edge of the bench and scowled at his brother. "I've never 'legged off' anywhere, especially not to get away from a woman."

"What about Katrina? Patricia? Josephine?"

"Yes, yes, okay." Charlie waved his hand as if to dispel the truth. "But in my defence, Patricia wasn't a one night stand, we dated for a month."

Bill snorted and retrieved his mother's biscuit tin. "All I'm saying is don't start anything –_ anything_ – with Hermione unless you really like her."

They stared each other down a moment before Charlie laughed and snatched away the last choc chip cookie.

"She's a pretty girl, Bill, but that doesn't mean I'm going to marry her."

"Who are you marrying?" Ginny asked. She strode into the room, grabbing another towel and headed out again, pausing in the doorway.

"Hermione," Bill answered, darting out of the way of his brother's swinging fist.

"Don't you say a word!" Charlie yelled after Ginny but she was already gone.

* * *

_Christmas Countdown: 3 days to go. _

"Mine looks like Crookshanks attacked it," Fred complained.

"It's not so bad," George said, leaning over to have a look. "Mine looks like it came out of Pig's ars-"

"Thank you, George. Just wait for it to dry and start again."

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat huddled around their bare baubles, their paints untouched, ignoring the twins.

"Harry, you ask Ginny if she wants to go for a walk, okay?"

"Okay." Harry nodded.

"Ron, your job is to distract the twins. If they know what's happening, they'll try to sabotage it for sure. Okay?"

Ron nodded, too. "Okay."

"While you're walking and you're distracting," she pointed to each man in turn, "I'll get down to the jetty and set up the candles, blanket and picnic basket. You'll have to time it to be back right on sunset. Now, I checked with the Weather Bureau this morning –"

"You three haven't done anything!" Mrs Weasley cried, drawing the attention of the room. Everyone was crammed into the sitting room, painting Christmas decorations. Hermione had found the kits while searching for decorations for Mr Weasley but Mrs Weasley had decided to turn them into a family activity.

"What are you whispering about?"

Hermione glanced towards Ginny before she could stop herself. Next to Ginny, however, sat Charlie and he blushed, mistaking the subject of their discussion. By evening the day before, word of Charlie's 'crush' had swept through the Burrow.

Now everyone looked curiously between Charlie and Hermione, coming to the same mistaken conclusion that Charlie had. Hermione glowered at the room at large and hurriedly picked up a paint brush. Charlie did the same. When everyone had returned to their balls and Mrs Weasley had nodded in approval Hermione lifted her head to glare at Harry.

"You owe me!" she whispered harshly. "If Ginny doesn't say yes, I'm going to strangle you."

"Yes ma'am." Harry laughed and shared an amused look with Ron before they too got on with their decorating.

* * *

_Christmas Countdown: 2 days to go_

"We don't have to go down together. You could go down on mine first," Charlie suggested.

Hermione looked at the large piece of equipment and frowned.

"I don't think I can handle it. You're going to have to steer it. It's bigger than any I've ever ridden," she confessed.

Charlie hid his grin and helped Hermione onto the large sled. He slid in behind her adjusting them until she sat nestled between his thick muscled thighs, her back to his chest. Hermione shivered, not from the cold, and wrapped her arms around his calves. Charlie reached through their tangled limbs to grab hold of the rope at the front of the sled.

"Ready?" Charlie checked.

"Ready," Hermione confirmed and leaned back against Charlie's chest. She tried not to notice how wide it was or how she could feel the corded muscle even beneath his coat. She tried not to notice how good he smelled or the pleasant way his long hair tickled her cheek. But she did notice. She noticed all that and more.

"Dammit," she muttered under her breath.

Luckily Charlie didn't hear her and a moment later they were hurtling down the hill. Hermione gripped onto Charlie tighter as they flew over the bumps and jumps the twins had constructed.

"Do you want to try the big one?" Charlie shouted over the wind whistling past, referring to the large jump at the end of the sled run.

"Yes!" Hermione squeal as they landed with a 'thump' after a larger bump.

Charlie leaned over, steering them towards the large now jump. Seconds later they were flying through the air, higher then any of the other jumps. The sled fell away from them and they landed in a tangled heap on the cushion of snow.

"_Whoo_!" Charlie cried, helping Hermione up. She laughed throatily, a sound that reached right to Charlie's core and together they retrieved the sled.

"That was great, thank you." Hermione grinned at him and he smile back.

Ginny wolf whistled as she walked past on Harry's arm. Harry snickered and pulled her away, the elegant diamond ring sparkling on her left hand.

Hermione and Charlie's cheeks burned and they stammered at each other a moment before exchanging tight smiles and fleeing in opposite directions.

_

* * *

_

_Christmas Countdown: 1 day to go_

Hermione stuck the bow down to the last present and sighed happily. Next to her sat a pile of presents she had just finished wrapping. She was sitting in between her and Ginny's beds on the floor and stretched her cramped back before unlocking the door. Barely five seconds later, Ginny burst through the door, slamming it shut behind her.

"He was talking about you again!" she squealed.

Hermione's heart picked up its pace, beating frantically. On the outside though, Hermione frowned at Ginny and began packing away the wrapping paper, scissors and tape. "Stop gossiping. We're getting too old for it."

"Pish," Ginny dismissed her claims. "We're women; we'll never be too old for it. In fact, the older we get, the more it's expected of us."

Hermione laughed and rolled her eyes. She closed the desk draw and attempting to sound casual asked, "So, what was he saying?"

Ginny grinned at her friend's back. "Bill was telling him about the fancy restaurant he took Fleur to for their first date. Charlie interrupted him and said, 'I don't think Hermione would be into that kind of thing.'"

"What, he thinks if he asks I'm just going to say yes?"

It was Ginny's turn to roll her eyes. "Come off it, Hermione. You two have the big moon eyes for each other, just admit it."

"Never!" Hermione couldn't help the smile that pulled at her mouth though. "Okay, so maybe I would say yes."

* * *

_Christmas Countdown: 0 days to go aka Christmas Day_

Hermione didn't know quite how it happened, because of the extremely large group of people and the family's meddling she guessed, but when she sat down for the big Christmas dinner, she found herself seated between Charlie and his dragon trainer friend from Romania who didn't speak a bit of English. He was engaged to an English trainer and had been spending Christmas with her but had happily accepted Charlie's invitation to Christmas dinner after a few tense days in his father-in-law-to-be's presence. Charlie constantly had to lean across her, casually slinging his arm over her chair, to converse with the man. Not that she minded. Oh no, in fact as the night progressed, she found herself paying thanks to whatever cosmic mishap that had led to her being seated between the two burly dragon trainers. Listening to Charlie's rough voice moulding itself around the Romanian language while she spooned the most delicious Christmas pudding into her mouth was an experience she wished to repeat often.

"Hermione, you in?" Ron asked from down the table. The family had been joined by friends with not big families. Luna, Neville, Lee, Ron's girlfriend Lavender and the Patil twins were sprinkled around the table and their, along with the younger Wealsey's attention was trained on her.

"Sure," Hermione replied, not willing to admit she hadn't heard him because she had been mesmerised by his brother's left hand. The quick looks Ron kept shooting his mother, though, should have tipped her off that their plans were not entirely on the up and up.

"Charlie?" Ron asked, turning to his brother.

"What's the game?" Charlie asked.

Ron again looked at his mother before rising and leaning across the table so he wouldn't have to speak so loudly.

"Skinny dipping in the pond."

Hermione blushed, torn between her desire to see Charlie in the buff - a desire that had wormed its way in since they sledded together - and her own insecurities at her plump body. She didn't have the advantage of playing Quidditch and an active work life that the rest of them had. Since the end of the war years earlier she'd taken to late night snacking to drive away unpleasant dreams. Coupling that with long days spent at her desk, she was definitely more rounded then she had ever been in her twenty-two years. She didn't mind it so much when it filled out her jeans nicely but there was a big difference between tight denim and nothing but skin.

Hermione suddenly became aware that half the party - the younger half - were drifting off into the darkness in the direction of the water and that Charlie was looking at her, obviously waiting to walk with her.

"Oh," Hermione squealed and jumped up from her chair. "Sorry."

They started off into the direction of the pond, the darkness quickly closing in on them. Hermione could barely see a thing but was extremely aware of Charlie's presence, especially his hand that brushed against hers every other step.

"Wh-where did your friend go?" Hermione stammered.

"Back to his girlfriend's house. Skinny dipping with a bunch of crazy English isn't exactly his cup of tea."

Hermione laughed. "What, so it is yours?"

Charlie didn't miss a beat, "It is if you're there."

Hermione didn't have anything to say at that so she just grinned at him in the darkness. A moment later she felt Charlie's fingers brush hers. He took her hand and pulled her to a stop. She could hear the others jumping into the water, laughing and shouting. She looked enquiringly at Charlie. She could just make out his features in the inky blackness and sucked in a breath when she realised just why those features were suddenly getting clearer. It had nothing to do with her eyes adjusting to the night; Charlie was moving closer.

"You have become quite a woman," Charlie whispered, his face now less then a foot away from her own.

Hermione swallowed loudly. "Have I?"

Charlie chuckled. "Yes, yes you have." He leaned in closer still and his lips brushed her ear. "Beautiful, caring, loyal, honest."

"I – uh – I was always those things. Well, the last three anyway." Hermione laughed nervously.

"Maybe, but I've been too distracted to notice." Charlie captured her other hand and pulled her a step towards him so their bodies were pressed again each others. "Now that my mind isn't wandering back to the Reserve, I've noticed all sorts of things."

"See, moving home won't be so bad," Hermione joked. His lips moved over her cheek, barely touching her skin. He could feel her tensing up against him.

"Relax, Hermione, it's just a kiss. It won't hurt, I promise."

"Okay," Hermione whispered, her voice barely above a whisper.

Charlie chuckled again. "Okay."

Hermione's eyes fluttered shut as Charlie's lips met hers. They were warm and moist against the biting winter wind. His hands placed her own around his neck and then circled around her waist. He pulled her closer still, seeking the warmth of her body and the warmth of her passion. He tasted like pudding and when she opened her mouth to him, he gladly plunged his tongue inside, tasting, exploring. Hermione threaded her fingers into Charlie's long hair, standing on tip toe to have fuller access to his mouth. He grinned against her lips and reached down to grasp her legs and lift her against him. Hermione wrapped her legs around Charlie's waist, shocked at how eagerly she was responding, but too aroused to force herself to stop. It wasn't as if she was a virgin; five months of dating Viktor Krum at the beginning of the year had taken care of that.

Hermione's tongue battled against Charlie's, matching him stroke for stroke, sweep for sweep. One hand held her firmly against him while the other kneaded against her thigh and up along her hip. Charlie groaned and, with a bit of effort, broke the kiss, lowering Hermione back to her feet. Hermione ached for his lips to be back on hers. They breathed heavily, their arms still wrapped around each other.

"Thank you," Charlie said after a moment.

"Thank you?" Hermione's peal of laughter filled the night.

Charlie joined in. "Yes, thank you."

"Well, you're welcome."

Eventually their laughter quietened and the sounds of the others drifted over to them. They glanced in the direction of the pond. Hermione reached up to lower Charlie's head down to hers for another heated kiss before breaking off and dashing towards that pond.

"Race you; winner gets to pick the first date location."

Charlie watched her race off, stunned, before leaping into action and running after her. He caught up to her just as she hit the jetty and, together, they tumbled into the water. They came up laughing, Hermione's arm around Charlie's neck to keep herself above water in her heavy wet clothes.

"It's a tie," Hermione declared. "How about we skip the date and head straight to bed? My place, tomorrow night, deal?"

Charlie grinned at her. "Deal." He reclaimed her lips while her legs reclaimed his waist.

"Oi, oi!" Fred cried, swimming pass. "No hanky panky in front of the rest of us!"

The others – gathered friends and family alike – cheered as Charlie ignore him and kissed Hermione soundly.


End file.
